Culture, Biology and Anthropological Demography ( New Perspectives on Anthropological and Social Demography Series)
Author:
Eric Abella Roth
ISBN:
0521809053
Format:
Handover
Publish Date:
June, 2005
Book Review
Book Description Two distinctive approaches to the study of human demography exist within anthropology today--anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology. Eric Roth reconciles these approaches through recognition of common research topics and the construction of a broad theoretical framework incorporating both cultural and biological motivation.
Culture, Biology and Anthropological Demography ( New Perspectives on Anthropological and Social Demography Series)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Culture, Biology, and Anthropological Demography attempts a rapprochement of anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology through recognition of common research topics and the construction of a broad theoretical framework incorporating both cultural and biological motivation. Two distinctive approaches to the study of human demography exist within anthropology today - anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology. The first stresses the role of culture in determining population parameters, whereas the second posits that demographic rates reflect adaptive behaviors that are the products of natural selection. Both these approaches are utilized to search for demographic strategies in varied cultural and temporal contexts ranging from African pastoralists through North American postindustrial societies. Although both of these approaches have achieved notable successes, each has ignored or actively disparaged the other. In an attempt to initiate a discussion between the two fields, this book develops a framework recognizing cultural and biological demographic strategies.